Sweet Is the Work~Provo MTC

On 29 January 2013, my husband was called to serve as a counselor in a Branch Presidency in the Provo Missionary Training Center. During this past year, we have been privileged to hear General Authorities speak to the missionaries each week and have had many touching and uplifting experiences. The purpose of this blog is to capture, preserve, and share our uplifting experiences, for, indeed, Sweet is the Work.

Provo MTC

At the flags by 19M

Monday, February 2, 2015

Today (Sunday, February 1, 2015) marks
our two-year anniversary at the MTC. It
hardly seems possible that we have been here since the first Sunday of February
2013. During these two years’ time we witnessed the phenomenon of the “Tsunami
of Sisters” and also had the unique experience of serving on the “West Campus”
for 14 months beginning in July 2013 (the West Campus was subsequently closed
in the Autumn of 2014). During the second half of this four-year-long
assignment, I suspect that we shall witness other marvelous developments.

Today at
Mission Conference, Sister Bertasso, wife of President Bertasso (First
Counselor in the new MTC Presidency), told us about two “invisible missionaries” on their mission in Brazil. The two missionaries, who had agreed that they
would be exactly obedient during
their mission, had one day gone to the post office after doing all of the
things they were supposed to have done that morning: exercising, praying, studying, cleaning their
apartment, doing their laundry, etc. While they were waiting in three very long
lines at the post office, masked gunmen came into the post office and proceeded
to rough-up the people and rob all the people of any money or valuables that they
might have on them. At some point during the robbery, one gunman asked the other gunman if they had gotten everyone’s stuff. He received an affirmative answer
and so they left. The two missionaries were astonished because the robbers had
not so much as touched them, nor had they taken their money. It was as if the
gunmen could not see the missionaries. They concluded that because they had
decided to be exactly obedient at all times, that the Lord had made them
invisible to those who might otherwise have harmed them. I believe that this is
a true example of the principle, “obedience brings blessings, and exact obedience brings miracles.”

Also during today's Mission Conference, President Burgess (MTC President) invited an Elder Ahmad to
the microphone to tell a little of his history and share his testimony. The
Elder was from Syria. He and his family had joined the Church while they were
living in Romania. After returning to Syria, they were unable to attend Church
because they were being watched. His father was in particular jeopardy. Somehow
this young man and his little sister managed to escape to Lebanon where there
is a Branch of the Church; their mother was able to join them a week later.
(I’m not sure what became of his father.) How utterly remarkable it is to have
a missionary from Syria at the MTC! The
implications make my jaw drop. ~PLH

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Elder
Anthony D Perkins and his wife Christine were the MTC Devotional speakers on
December 30, 2014. Just ten months previously, on February 18, 2014, they had
also spoken at the MTC. On both visits, Changing Behavior was the theme.

In their
December visit, Elder Perkins expounded on how a person (whether an
investigator or a missionary) can change: First, the Doctrine of Christ
inspires faith. Faith brings about a change of attitude. This leads to
repentance and a change of behavior. Next comes Baptism and the Gift of the
Holy Ghost which results in a change of countenance. The power of the Atonement
and the Holy Ghost then actually change our very natures. This pattern continues
throughout life as one repents and endures to the end. Paul offers his insights on this Devotional below, following my summary of the February Devotional.

During their
February visit, Elder Perkins shared two inspiring missionary stories from his
time as a mission president in Taiwan. His first story demonstrated how
diligence in following mission rules changes a missionary. His second story
demonstrated how the diligence of the missionary following rules changes
investigators.

How diligence changes the missionary: Elder Smith and Elder Hanks

As part of
his [Anthony D Perkins, 18 Feb 2014] talk, one of the stories he told was of a
missionary, Elder “Smith,” who was angry with his senior companion, Elder
“Hanks,” because Elder Hanks consistently
insisted that they had to be home no later than 9:30 PM exactly, in accordance with mission rules. One evening, a few
minutes before 9:30, they met a couple on a motorcycle who expressed interest
in their gospel message. When Elder Hanks told the couple that they wouldn’t be
able to teach them just then, and handed them a pamphlet with the missionaries’
phone number on it, and invited the couple to phone for an appointment, Elder
Smith was furious. This junior companion was sure that they had missed a key
opportunity. After all, they had handed out countless pamphlets and no one had
ever phoned them. Therefore, in Elder Smith’s opinion, adhering slavishly to
the 9:30 rule was ridiculous—he considered it one of those rules that could
justifiably be “bent.”

However, at
8:45 the next morning, Elder Smith was astonished when the couple actually did phone and make an appointment to be
taught. And he was truly humbled when they actually joined the church. This
experience was the turning point of his mission for Elder Smith—dramatically
changing him. He recognized that the Lord blesses his servants according to
their diligence and obedience.

How the diligence of the missionary
changes investigators.

The
companion story to the above [same talk], was of a set of missionaries who were
teaching the first lesson to a family, and as it got to be about 9:20 PM, they
announced to the family that they had to leave in order to obey their mission
rules. During the second lesson, the same thing occurred. At the end of the
third lesson, they again announced that they needed to leave. The father of the
family protested, “but its pouring rain outside!” “It doesn’t matter,” said the
missionaries, “we need to go.”

So, the man
put their bikes in his car and drove them home. The man was deeply impressed
when he discovered that the missionaries lived at the top of a very steep
“mountain.” After dropping them off and as he drove away, he marveled at the
missionaries’ diligence and obedience. And then he thought, “these missionaries
are the kind of individuals that I want my children to become; if the Church
produces this kind of young people, then we must join this Church!” (The family
did join the Church and went to the temple—because of the example of the
missionaries).

In our discussion
of Elder Perkins’ talk with the missionaries following the Devotional, I
suggested to them that they will undoubtedly—at some time in their missions (as
well as in their lives after their missions)—be tempted to “bend” the rules in
order to pursue what they consider to be higher or more important purposes. My
earnest admonition to them was to not fall for that ploy by the Tempter,
because breaking rules can become a habit, and when they bend or break rules,
they lose the protection and the power of the Holy Ghost. ~PLH

Paul’s
Insights on the December 30, 2014 Devotional with Elder Anthony D Perkins and
his wife Christine:

Meeting with
the missionaries after a Tuesday Night Devotional is always a delight. No
matter how copious my notes might be, I find that the Elders and Sisters
frequently have insights into the spirit of the speaker’s message that I had
failed to pick up on. In addition, the manner in which they reflect on their
own comprehension and feelings usually enhances my own experience; I find
myself making marginal notes in my journal next to my personal notes taken
during the talks. This was particularly true last night (December 30, 2014) as
we met with one of our districts after Elder and Sister Anthony D. Perkins
spoke.

Sister
Perkins provided four Christ-like attributes that she heartily recommended to
the Missionaries, attributes that she admired in the daily conduct that she
witnessed in the life of a Taiwanese flower lady, while she and her husband
served as a Mission President in China: Be Happy, Be Bold, Testify of Christ,
and Be Diligent. The Sisters in our district focused on “Be Happy” and
suggested what the effect would be in their own missionary labors if they
followed Sister Perkins recommendations.

Suddenly I was reminded of the prophet
Joseph Smith, his own self-description as being a person with a “native cheery
temperament”. The prophet’s ability to draw people into his circle is
legendary. He genuinely loved others and those who came into his company could
sense that in him. When others betrayed him, he was quick to forgive and
frequently welcomed them back into his bosom of friends.

Elder Perkin
spoke of the Doctrine of Christ and the changes that take place as one
exercises faith, sincerely repents, and receives the ordinances of baptism and
the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. Exercising sufficient
faith to repent of sin requires achange of attitude. Repenting sufficiently to be prepared for baptism necessitates achange of behavior. Following the commandment to
“receive the Holy Ghost” will bring about achange in countenance. Fully responding to the gift of the
Holy Ghost will cause achange of naturein the faithfully obedient.

When we
discussed the change of attitude, I brought to their attention a metaphor that
would help them remember Elder David A. Bednar’s talk which they had all seen
the Sunday before, “The Character of Christ”. At the heart of our discussion
was the notion as to how easy it is to focus on one’s self, and how our
salvation depends on turning our attention outward to the welfare of others. I
described the orientation of the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea (a similar
configuration can be found with Utah Lake and the Great Salt Lake). The Sea of
Galilee receives water from the upper reaches of the Jordan River and then
sends the still fresh waters south in the same stream. The Dead Sea, which has
no outlet, receives the waters of the Jordan and keeps them to itself. The
result is a deadly body of water for both flora and fauna. When we turn outward
we continue to live; selfishness is deadly.

As the
Missionaries talked about the change of countenance, I felt impressed to tell
them about Bill Chapman’s transformation over a sixth month period. He was a
classic surfer who had been fellowshipped and taught by his friends in southern
California. I met him at the Institute at Cypress College shortly after his
baptism. He was also a young man with a native cheery temperament, but one who
still sported a mass of hair that surrounded his head like a gigantic aura.
Week by week the hair was trimmed back until one day he came into the Institute
building with what could be called a missionary haircut. He had just been
ordained an Elder and a few months later he would embark on his own missionary
service.

We finally
spoke about the change of our nature and whether we had improved enough of our
own character so that we could effectively teach investigators. I reminded them
that we all have parents of our physical bodies. By the same token, long before
we were born upon this earth, we were begotten spirit sons and daughters of our
Heavenly parents. I asked them what we were before our spirit birth. They
correctly answered that we were intelligence.

I then taught them that the glory
of God is intelligence or in other words, light and truth. The children of men,
because of their eternal nature, may be nourished by light and truth. Because
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has more light and truth than
any other organization on this planet, the missionaries are able to bless and
strength every one with whom they come in contact. If they are keeping the
commandments and are enjoying the blessings and benefits of the spirit of God,
they cannot fail to bless the honest in heart.

I went home
having been edified myself. I am confident that one of the reasons that the
Brethren have allowed us to participate in the devotionals is so we might grow
and increase in knowledge and wisdom while blessing and benefiting those for
whom we have some responsibility. I am glad to be part of all of this. ~PNH

Monday, March 17, 2014

Marcos A.
Aidukaitis and his wife Luisa were the speakers at the March 4, 2014 MTC
Devotional. During the past year, they also spoke on March 5, 2013 and then
again on November 19, 2013. Elder Aidukaitis is a delightful speaker with a
huge grin and a contagious laugh. I believe they said that he currently is
serving as the Assistant Executive Director of the Missionary Department.

In his talks
last year, he urged the missionaries to make “the BIG decision” – to choose
which Kingdom they wanted: Telestial, Terrestrial, or Celestial – and, to write
their destiny of choice in BIG letters in their journals that night. Writing it
in big letters signified a bold decision, not a timid one. “After you make the
BIG decision,” he said, “all other decisions are easy and simple.” He also told
the missionaries that if the Celestial Kingdom was not their destination of choice, then they were “doing too much.” (Logically,
the criterion for admittance into the Telestial or Terrestrial Kingdoms
requires little or no effort.)

At the March
4th devotional this month, he expounded several missionary
scriptures, iterating the promises and the requisites listed for each
scripture. The promised blessings always follow the missionary’s faithful
obedience to the requisites, he said. Take, for example, Alma 26:22:

Yea, he thatrepenteth and
exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth goodworks,
and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know themysteriesof God; yea, unto such it shall begiventorevealthings which never have been revealed;
yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance,
even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance.

In this
scripture, the missionary is promised the blessing of bringing thousands of souls to repentance. The
requisites are that the missionary is repentant, he exercises faith, does good
works, and prays without ceasing. By doing these things, he may know the
“mysteries” of God—such as where to go to find those thousands of souls, and
what to say to them to bring them to repentance.

Elder
Aidukaitis told them that it did not matter that they may have been called to a
very difficult mission where converts traditionally have been very few. The
promise stands: if you do the requisites, the blessings will follow. Especially
now, in this day of the hastening of the work, any missionary can exercise faith in the promises of that
scripture, and baptize every week!

Elder
Aidukaitis also admonished the missionaries to be a “trumpet” and not a “timid
instrument.” He explained the need for the boldness of a trumpet because of the
confusion in the world—for there is a war
going on—a violin or flute would not be heard above the noise and confusion.
“Be bold but loving,” he said. He demonstrated those qualities throughout his
talk.

We departed rejoicing.

MY HUSBAND'S TAKE

The Cheerful Reaper

As my wife stated above, Elder Aidukaitis has an infectious
laugh and an ebullient personality. I believe that it would be virtually
impossible to sit through one of his talks without smiling… a lot. It would
take a somber soul indeed to not chuckle at some point. He has, as the prophet
Joseph Smith said of himself, a native cheery temperament. He exudes
enthusiastic optimism. In his address to the missionaries in 19 November 2013,
he quoted from the Gospel according to John: “These things I have spoken unto
you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation:
but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) He is the living
manifestation of one who has completely embraced that commandment.

In concert with the Savior’s instruction to have not fear,
but believe joyfully, Elder Aidukaitis also cited Doctrine and Covenant 31. As
a Branch Presidency, we use this section with the newly arrived missionaries on
their first Thursday with us.

Lift up your heart and rejoice, for
the hour of your mission is come; and your tongue shall be loosed, and you
shall declare glad tidings of great joy unto this generation. You shall declare
the things which have been revealed to my servant, Joseph Smith, Jun. You shall
begin to preach from this time forth, yea, to reap in the field which is white
already to be burned. Therefore, thrust in your sickle with all your soul, and
your sins are forgiven you, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your back,
for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Wherefore, your family shall live. (D&C
31:3-5)

We review with the Elders and Sisters the promised blessings
for faithful missionary service. Paramount is the commandment to rejoice,
because the subsequent blessings can only lift up our hearts. One’s sins may be
remediated while aiding others to put off the natural man and partake of the
divine nature. We point out to the missionaries in addition that their families
will be blessed while they serve the Lord.

In the first two talks we had the opportunity to listen to,
Elder Aidukaitis spoke of the three degrees of glory and the blessings that
attend exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom. How does one receive a fullness of
joy, the sort of happiness that God the eternal Father experiences in eternity?
It is when we find ourselves in complete harmony with His will that we begin to
know Him, that we begin to perceive the nature of eternal life.

As he spoke, I was reminded of another wonderful passage in
the Doctrine and Covenant, this time in Section 18.

Remember the worth of souls is
great in the sight of God; For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death
in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might
repent and come unto him. And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might
bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance. And how great is his joy
in the soul that repenteth! Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto
this people. And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying
repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great
shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father! And now, if your joy
will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of
my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me! (D&C
18:10-16)

To the ancient Israelites, the
time of the harvest was a joyful hour; great celebrations were held throughout
the land of promise when the crops were gathered in. The harvester enters into
the field and encircles an armful of wheat stalks and then quickly cuts them
near the ground with his sickle. He then uses another bit of stalk to tie the
bundle together. This constitutes a sheave. Many sheaves would indicate a
bounteous harvest, indeed.

In his talk a few weeks ago,
Elder Aidukaitis spoke of the sickle itself, the effective instrument of the
harvest in the hand of the harvester. He testified that it represented nothing
less than the Book of Mormon itself and that the Elders and Sisters needed to
hone the edge of their comprehension of that book in order that they might be at
their most effective in teaching the principles and ordinances of eternal life.

I had always thought of the Book
of Mormon as the key to conversion, but it had not occurred to me before that
evening to consider it as the sickle itself. I was delighted at the thought; I
pondered it over and over in my mind and in my heart. By the time he finished
his address I was completely convinced that he had spoken the truth of the
matter. No one in this dispensation will attain to everlasting life and
salvation without a witness of the Book of Mormon, a book, by the way, that
provides the means by which one can know of its surety.

I have been reading the Book of
Mormon for more than fifty years. I have studied it
from every angle, comparing it with the other sacred works of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. No one man could have composed that text on his own; there is no
way that it could be false. The world has been compelled to discredit the Book
of Mormon and has tried to do so since it first saw the light of day in the
spring of 1830. They have utterly failed to do so. It cannot be explained away.
It stands a bright and burning witness of all that Joseph Smith said from the
beginning of his ministry is true. No one can come away from a reading of that
book without being stunned at its consistency and clarity, its indisputable
continuity as a narrative. For a missionary, it is the means by which the truth
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ may be taught. For the investigator of the truth,
it is the very key that opens an otherwise inaccessible fountain of divine truth
and light. ~ PNH

Sunday, March 9, 2014

On the first
Sunday of almost every month at the MTC, is “Mission Conference.” During this two-hour meeting, President Lon
Nally and his wife Kaye always speak, and one of his counselors and his wife, along
with one of the District Presidency members and his wife, also speak to an
audience attended by all of the missionaries and all of the Branch Presidency
members and their spouses—upwards of 2000 people. Uplifting and edifying discourses
consistently characterize these meetings.

During
Mission Conference on Sunday, February 2, 2014, the following story was told:

“Elder Nelson Cordova—a member of the Seventy who resides
in California—was just finishing his evening shift as a recorder in the Los
Angeles Temple. The phone rang; it was the LAX airport control tower. The
obviously stressed man on the phone asked, ‘Where
is Moroni?’ Apparently the light
that shines on the Angel Moroni atop the temple had gone out—and without Moroni
as a beacon, some of the pilots were worried about landing safely.

“Elder Cordova and others climbed to the top of the
temple to start the light again with a generator they kept on hand to use
during power failures. He said he was amazed that the caller actually asked for
Moroni by name—and that he learned a lesson that night—‘The temple is not only a beacon in the lives of the Saints, but for
others as well.’ ”

In the
context of the talk, the story was used as an attention getter for the theme of
the talk, “beacons of righteousness.”

At this month’s Mission Conference on March
2, 2014, President Nally mentioned, in passing, that the New York Times had posted the day before on the front page of the
internet edition, a lengthy article about two LDS Sister missionaries serving
in Korea. He indicated that he’d not had time to read the entire article yet; he
was merely commenting on its front page status.

My response
on hearing the Los Angeles Temple story was surprise that pilots and air
traffic controllers would know by name the Los Angeles Temple and the Angel
Moroni.

My response
to the New York Times article, which
I read online Sunday afternoon after Mission Conference, was also surprise—why did
the New York Times think that their
readership would actually be interested in LDS Sister missionaries? As for
accuracy, although their premise was somewhat flawed, so that what followed was
slightly off, the tone was neutral rather than negative. To judge for yourself,
go to:

Why was I
surprised in each case? Mostly because for the majority of my life, people of
other faiths whom I have encountered in the world have either never even heard
of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or Mormons, or, they have
heard only the distortions or skewed representations circulated by enemies of
the Church. Mocking, scoffing, and outrageous misrepresentations from the world
are what I have come to expect.

In January’s
Mission Conference, President Nally told us about an experience his
granddaughter had recently had while serving her mission in the Philippines.
One day, she and her companion were accosted by a North American man who
viciously spewed so much hatred at them and at the Church that they were
brought to tears. Afterward, their tears were replaced by smiles because of the
smiles and friendly greetings of the warm Filipino people, and by the comfort
that came to them from the Spirit.

The
monumental task of the MTC is preparing the missionaries for such varied
experiences. Sometimes, as they serve their missions, the missionaries will be “beacons,”
and sometimes they will be “targets.” And sometimes they will be surprised . . . . ~PLH

My Husband’s Take:

Inexpressible
Joy

One of the liabilities of being assigned at
the Provo Missionary Training Center, is that one loses contact with the
residential Ward and Stake within which one resides. I miss the members of the
Ward where I once presided as Bishop. I want to know how they are doing; my
affection for them has not diminished one whit during the past year. I feel the
same way about the members of the Stake with whom I worked closely while I
served on the High Council. I miss my former Stake President, Richard K.
Wilson, whom I love like a brother. I know that I am missing something of the
leadership blessings that I might have had with the recently called Stake
President, Jeff Robinson, whom I have known almost since the day that we moved
into our home here in Orem.

What I have felt for these two great men, I
have felt elsewhere in my travels with the Church Educational System. I have
enjoyed the fellowship and confidence of Stake Presidents for more than fifty
years and I am a better person for having known and worked with them. When I
have had eyes to see and ears to hear, I have invariably been edified by those
who preside in the Church and Kingdom of God. I have seldom gone to a Stake
Conference or a Stake Leadership meeting where I have not been edified and
blessed for having been in attendance. This has been pointedly true as I have
listened and conformed my life to the teachings of the various Stake Presidents
with whom I have served.

I knew that when I accepted the call to serve
at the Provo MTC that I would be distanced from people that I knew and loved.
That was one of the sacrifices that I was expected to make. I had watched
others make the same sacrifice when they had received similar calls that took
them outside of the Stake. I have to say that I grieved just a little as the
truth of what I suspected came to be realized. I was, however, not abandoned by
any means. I had simply changed venues.

For the past year, my wife and I have sat at
the feet of the MTC Presidency, rejoicing in the teachings that have been presented
to us as we tried to serve the young men and women who had responded to a
prophet’s call to serve. There have been training meetings of various kinds,
visits to our particular Branch where Presidency members have spoken, and, of
course, the monthly Mission Conferences that traditionally take place on Fast
Sunday. These have been rich experiences and I have taken copious notes on all
of the addresses that have been made. Of all of the speakers, the one I have
enjoyed the most has been President Lon B. Nally. In part, I think that I have
been particularly attentive to him because he essentially serves as my Stake
President, at least as far as my weekly experiences in the Church are
concerned.

I decided that I would review my notes from
these various conferences and training meetings so that I might share some of
the tremendous insights that I have gained as I have sat at President Nally’s
feet. Alas, I discovered that my notes are few, and those that appear are
almost unintelligible. As I turned the pages, I sorrowed at the lack of
adequate stimulus to remind me of the wonderful things that he had said,
principles that had touched my heart deeply. I decided to see if this lapse in
recording had affected the rest of my notes on the various talks that had been
given by others. To my surprise, I discovered that much of what had been said
by others had been preserved by my pen. Why had I not treated President Nally’s
words better?

As I have pondered the lack of detail in my
journal, I have settled on a couple of possibilities. First, during the
President’s talks I may have been so enthralled by what he was saying, the
sublime nature of his insights, that I simply could not take the time to write
them down for fear that I might miss something of what he was saying while I
tried to write. Frequently our visitors at the MTC will ask us not to take
notes that we might more readily feel the spirit of the Lord. I had not
understood what they had been suggesting until now. Perhaps the strength of the
spirit on those occasions was so strong that I unconsciously chose to abandon
my journal for a greater good.

Secondly, I have thought that maybe some of
the things that the President communicated to me personally, that is to say,
those things which I learned by the spirit, were too sacred to record. Perhaps
they were some of the unspeakable things of the Kingdom, things that could not
be written down, because there are no human words into which those thoughts and
feelings might be translated. The oddity was that I thought that I had written them down, that I would find them when I perused my
journal afterward.

Yet, for all of my ruminating on the matter, I
had not been able to intellectually explain why my circumstances are the way
they are . . . until this morning, the day after I began
writing my portion of this posting. I have concluded that the messages and
instruction that President Nally has delivered to the missionaries and their
leaders are written down, but in my most personal journal, upon the fleshy tablets
of my heart. I am a different man for having been in those meetings, just as I
have become a different man for having hearkened to my Stake Presidents
throughout the years. I cannot explain what specific doctrines or teachings
have influenced me, I just know that I am more determined than ever to be the
kind of person that the Gospel of Jesus Christ defines as a disciple of the Son
of God. It is a wonderful experience to be entrusted with what I think now are
unspeakable things.

In the light of this morning’s epiphany that I
had about my journal and the teachings and testimony of President Nally, I
finally understood what happened to me several months ago, as President Wilkins
and I walked out of a Mission Conference together. I turned to him and exclaimed,
“President Nally did it again! He hit the ball right out of the park!” The
President turned to me and asked, “In what way? What did he say that made you
feel that way?” I tried to explain myself and found that my usual glibness had
failed me. I felt like I had just had a stroke. I could not articulate in any
satisfactory way what I had been feeling and thinking as a result of President
Nally’s address. I have since decided that my heart does not have a playback
feature. I know how I feel; I know when I am being blessed; it is as real to me
as anything I experience in life. But for the present, I am unable to share
what I have gained in this particular venue. Perhaps these things are too
sacred to share; perhaps they are impossible to share with others for the time
being. All I know for certain is that I am looking forward to the next three
years; I am confident that they are going to prove as joyous and as precious to
me as the last twelve months have been. ~PNH

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

On a cold, snowy Tuesday evening in December, the scheduled speaker for the Provo MTC Devotional was unable to travel from Salt Lake City to Provo because of the
extremely hazardous driving conditions. Remarkably, the MTC Presidency managed
to find a stand-in at the last minute! It was Bruce C. Hafen, an emeritus
General Authority. How they managed to find him and how he managed to be
prepared to speak on such short notice seemed like a miracle to me.

The feeling
of the presence of the Spirit came into the auditorium as he spoke. It was palpable.

During his
talk, Elder Hafen recounted his own missionary experience as a senior companion
in the early 1960s in West Germany with a new junior companion who had just
arrived from the MTC. That first day in the mission field, this junior
companion, whom I will call “Elder Green,” went on “splits” with another junior
companion, while their respective senior companions were in a day-long meeting
with the Mission President. Elder Hafen and the other senior companion had thought
that the two inexperienced missionaries would be “safe” tracting in a huge
complex of apartment buildings.

At the end
of his day tracting, Elder Green ecstatically reported to Elder Hafen that he
had found a woman who would become a member of the church. “We have to go back
and find her!” he said. Elder Hafen had been on his mission for at least a year
by that time, and had become somewhat cynical—“frozen over” was how he
described it. Nevertheless, he decided to humor his starry-eyed junior
companion. Alas, because of his
inexperience, Elder Green had neglected to note the woman’s name and address.
All he was sure of was that she lived on the fifth floor.

So, the next
day, Elder Hafen and Elder Green spent hours climbing to the 5th
floor of countless nondescript apartment
buildings that all looked the same to try to find her again. As the day wore
on, Elder Hafen was convinced that the search was futile. But Elder Green would
not give up even though Elder Hafen was obviously skeptical and reluctant to
continue. After several difficult hours, they finally located the woman.

Elder
Green’s confidence in the spiritual assurance he’d received concerning this
woman turned out to be entirely justified. She and her family joined the church. The
woman’s husband later became a sealer in the Frankfurt Germany Temple.

Elder
Hafen’s message to the missionaries was this: serving a mission is going to be
hard; try to not let yourself become cynical or “frozen over,” try to remain
hopeful, “be realistic but stay open to promptings from heaven.”

In the most recent issue
of the Church News (March 1, 2014), there was an article about the biography of
Neal A. Maxwell, which was written by Bruce C. Hafen. To read this article, go
to:

As he wrote the book (at
Elder Maxwell’s request), Elder Hafen reflected on the question, “Why do we
read and write biographies?” His answer was, “When we tell our own stories to each other, we realize that the cosmic
quest to overcome evil and find God is a very personal quest for each of us,”
he said.

In telling
his own personal missionary story at the MTC, Elder Hafen was sharing that
sacred moment during which he recognized that the Spirit really had directed
his junior companion. In that moment of recognition, he experienced a change of
heart, and was rescued from his “frozen over” condition. ~PLH

My Husband's Take:

The Length and Breadth

I, too, thoroughly enjoy the
stories told by the Brethren about their missions when they were young men. It
is wonderful to me that they frequently speak of their foibles, as did Elder
Hafen and his “frozen over” moment as a senior companion in West Germany that
was mentioned above by my wife. Last Tuesday’s devotional featured Elder Steven
E. Snow of the Seventy. He recounted how difficult his mission had been in the
late 1960s in northern Germany. He and his companions spurred themselves on,
however, with little quips like: “Let’s keep tracting Elder; for every door we
knock on, someone gets baptized in Mexico!”

Elder Snow went on to talk
about other missionaries who had seemingly not performed well as young Elders.
He referred to President Joseph Fielding Smith’s mission in Great Britain,
where the future prophet, seer, and revelator handed out 10,000 pamphlets and
visited in over 4000 homes, yet no one received the Gospel at his hands while
he was there. He performed no baptisms, and the whole time that he served in
England, he helped confirm only one person into The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. Yet the experience proved to be no detriment to his
character or to his later service in the Kingdom of God.

This past Sunday, as part of
Mission Conference, President Nally spoke in a similar vein, and then went on
to relate the experience of President James E. Faust during the early 1940s as
a new missionary in Brazil. The whole time that he served there with his
companions, only three people were baptized and none of them were at his hands.
During his first day on the streets of the city where he and his companion,
William Grant Bangeter, were working, Elder Bangeter told him that the next
door would be his. He knew little Portuguese but made a valiant attempt to
communicate with the woman who answered the door. They did not teach her; they
did not baptize her. Thirty years later, however, while President Faust was
visiting Brazil, this same woman came up to him and wept into his hands in
gratitude for his service to her in preparing her and her family for the
fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

As I listened to President
Nally, I reflected upon my own mission to southern Mexico. I had been one of
those missionaries who baptized a person for every door that Elder Snow knocked
upon. I knew that I had served well, and that the Lord was pleased with my
labors. That was as certain as certainly itself. However, I did not know how
lasting any of my efforts had been. Were any of those families who received the
Gospel during my tenure there still active in the Church? Were their children
and grandchildren faithful members of the Kingdom of God on the earth? I did
not know. I have not returned to my former fields of labor to find out how
things have gone with these people that I loved. I suppose that I will not know
until I pass out of this life and proceed into the next. Will I have to seek
them out, or will they be waiting for me?

President Nally played an
audio clip of one of President Faust’s talks at one of the Mission Presidents’
Seminar held at the Provo MTC. President Faust began by stating, “You cannot
know the length and breadth of your labors as a minister of Christ”. I marveled
at that. How fruitful had my mission been? Was it fruitful because of the
things that I could outwardly point to in the records that I kept? Were there
other things heretofore unmentioned and unrecorded by human hands that had
contributed to the building up of the Kingdom of God in that part of the Lord’s
vineyard as I labored throughout southern Mexico? I rather hope that there are.
~PNH

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

On May 14, 2013, Elder
Russell M. Nelson and his wife, the former Wendy Watson, were the MTC
Devotional speakers. During that Devotional, Sister Nelson said, “Pray to be led to those whose
ancestors pray for you on the other side of the veil. They are eager to receive
their ordinances; ask for angels to help you.”

I was especially
interested in and touched by her words because of my own remarkable experiences
while doing family history research. I knew the truth of those words.

After she spoke, Elder
Nelson underscored her words when he stated: “Ancestors are praying for you to
find their posterity. The Spirit of Elijah is on your side. People on both
sides of the veil are praying for the missionaries.” He went on to suggest that
the missionaries enlist the Family History Consultants in the wards they serve
in to help investigators to find their ancestors.

I was astonished. Uniting
family history work with missionary work was a new and unique vision. However,
these Devotional talks by Elder and Sister Nelson turned out to be a mere glimpse
of things to come.

About one month later, on
June 23, 2013, a Worldwide Leadership Broadcast from the MTC occurred, titled
“The Work of Salvation.” In that broadcast, we were presented with an enlarged
vision of “hastening” the Lord’s work with Church members and missionaries
working together. (“Hastening the Work of Salvation—a united effort in
conversion, retention, and activation” is available on lds.org for your
edification!)

Fast forward to February
4, 2014. The MTC Devotional speakers on
that date were Elder David F. Evans, executive director of the Missionary
Department, and his wife, Mary. Elder Evans began his talk by mentioning that
he had had a meeting that day with Missionary Council members, including Elder
Russell M. Nelson, Elder David A. Bednar, Bishop Gérald Caussé, and Elder James
B. Martino. The rest of Elder Evans’ talk gave us a glimpse of what had been
discussed in that meeting.

He spoke of “new things”
happening in our world that would present challenging conditions and situations
for the missionaries in the mission field. He said they would be called upon to defend
the family and traditional marriage, and they must be prepared to answer unique
questions of the soul.

Almost as an aside, he
shared that two general authorities had been somewhere in the world together
the previous week when they were warned by a strong spiritual impression that
they should not proceed to their planned destination. The important part of it
was that the Spirit had warned them and that they had heeded that warning, not knowing what might have
occurred. It was a “type” for the missionaries to follow—to recognize and trust
in spiritual impressions that would keep them safe.

He also shared a person
experience. He said that some years earlier the “eyes of his understanding were
opened” in a “most profound experience” that “changed forever” the way he felt about
his wife and children, so that ever after he tried harder with his children.
Here was another “type” for the missionaries to follow—to seek life-changing
understanding that would help them to live
according to God’s will.

Elder Evans admonished the
missionaries to embrace truth, cling to truth for safety, and that
these truths will resonate with sincere seekers of truth.

That we live in perilous
times can readily be seen. That the Lord is not surprised by world events, and
that He inspires His chosen servants in the things that they should do is also
readily seen. Our day was foreseen. The safety and well-being of ourselves, our
families, our fellow Church members, as well as that of society as a whole,
depends on our heeding the promptings of the Spirit and the counsel and
teachings of the Lord’s servants.

At the end, Elder Evans
suggested that there would be “additional training coming” . . . . ~PLH

[My husband's "take":]

I Have No Desire to Perish

Two scriptures have
come to my mind during the last little while. The first comes from the writings
of the prophet Amos:

Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto
his servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7)

The import of this
particular passage to me during the last little while will become apparent
momentarily.

One of the most
delightful aspects of serving at the Provo Missionary Training Center has been
the frequent appearance of the General Authorities of The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. For the past year, Pat and I have been able to
attend the Devotionals held on Tuesday evening, take copious notes on the
addresses given by the Brethren and their wives, and then have the opportunity
to mutually share what we have learned with one of the Districts in our Branch.
I always come away from these evenings edified and more determined to live as I
ought to, according to the light and knowledge which has just been abundantly
given to me. The Brethren have also visited the MTC on other occasions when I
have been instructed directly as a member of a Branch Presidency. I have been
grateful for the guidance, and I have invariably been benefited when I have
taken the counsel to heart.

The instruction has
been timely. One of the most apparent aspects of the activities transpiring at
the MTC has been the number of changes that have taken place. When we were
first called to serve in our Branch, we were housed on the Main Campus, one of
sixty branches that had been established there. Adapting to our new
surroundings was a challenge but we achieved that with some grace. Someone
asked me what it was like serving with the missionaries. I replied that it was
like coming out of retirement and being called as a Bishop on the same day. We
have been fully occupied. In the beginning we had to learn a considerable
amount of policies and procedures, some of which we had never encountered
before in our service in the Kingdom of God. These were specialized instructions
and guidelines that had come about as the MTC had grown and expanded. In the
process of time, we mastered these and were feeling somewhat comfortable.

Then a new set of
guidelines came about with new manuals for both the missionaries and for their
ecclesiastical leaders. Much was the same, but some changes revealed an
improved approach to the whole process of preparing missionaries for their
fields of labor. The number of branches at the MTC had increased to over one
hundred. About this same time, the leadership of our Branch changed. The
president with whom we had served for six months was released and a new
President sustained. The first counselor was released to become the President
of another Branch, requiring another counselor to be sustained. There was a
flurry of activity as all of us began to adjust to our new circumstances.
Administrative assignments changed and I soon found myself deeply immersed in
learning heretofore unknown aspects of how a Branch should function. About the
same time, our Branch was reassigned to the West Campus; all of our meeting
places and times changed radically. In some respects, we were once again
starting at square one. As time passed, other changes took place, all about the
time we had just finished absorbing the previous changes. We found ourselves
almost in a constant state of flux. It was a little unnerving, but we pressed
forward in faith.

Throughout all of
these disorienting events, there was a steadiness. Underpinning all that was
going on were the calming voices of the General Authorities and the Mission
Presidency. They assured us, with convincing evidence and not platitudes, that
they understood what was going on and that there was a purpose to all that was
transpiring. We were counseled to hold fast to the rod of iron, as it were, and
continue in our assignments. They also assured us that the changes and
adjustments that had been going on were not going to cease any time soon. In
every instance these assurances have proven to be justifiable, and our trust
and confidence in the midst of seeming turmoil has increased and strengthened.
On reflection, I would not choose to have any of the episodes changed one whit.

For one like me, who
is decidedly a conservative of the classic type, the fluctuations of our assignment
have been just a little disturbing. At the heart of the matter, however, the
reason why we persist in our callings, is the principle of preternatural
vision, the ability to see through the seeming chaos to the goals that divine
providence has mandated for our time and place. We have been strengthened and
sustained by those whom we love, those who gladly serve us, until our own eyes
have been appropriately opened as theirs already are. What more could anyone
hope for in such an assignment? I am grateful beyond expression that there are
yet three years remaining to us that our spiritual horizons might continue to
expand.

The second scripture
came into my mind as I have contemplated what might have happened to us had we
chosen to ignore the counsel we have been given during the past year, if we had
succumbed to the flurry of activity instead of finding refuge in the
revelations being poured out upon those who preside in the Church and Kingdom
of God.

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the
law, happy is he. (Proverbs 29:18)

May we always find
refuge in the word of the Lord, for whether by His own voice or by
the voice of His servants, it is the same. ~PNH

Thursday, February 6, 2014

On Tuesday,
January 21, 2014, Bishop Gérald Caussé of the Presiding Bishopric and his wife
Valérie were the Devotional speakers at the Provo Missionary Training Center.

First of
all, I loved listening to their French accents. They could have gone on for
another hour and I would not have tired of it.

Sister Valérie
Caussé shared her feelings of inadequacy and trepidation that occurred in 2008 when
President Monson phoned them in Paris and asked her husband Gérald (at age 44) to
“be a Seventy until he was seventy.”

She said she
knew that “Life would not be the same forever.”
She felt incapable of leaving children, parents, friends, French food, and her
home on the outskirts of Paris: “Why would I do this?” She said that she retreated
into the bathroom alone and wept. She said that she felt almost desperate, but
then she felt the Savior close to her, she felt his loving presence. So she
said yes when she wanted to say no. She said she wanted to be able to say to
Jesus Christ when she meets him, “I did my best.”

Bishop
Caussé said that during his time as a General Authority he has toured 40
missions and has collected 100 pages of missionary stories. One of his favorite
stories is of two Sister missionaries in Spain. As they were passing by a bank
one day, a big security guard standing at the entrance of the bank called to
them. They described him as having “one and half yellow teeth and a big machine
gun.”

Two
remarkable things then transpired, first this somewhat intimidating man asked
them for a copy of the Book of Mormon; he also went on to tell them that his
wife had died and that he was working two jobs to care for his children. The
second remarkable thing that happened was that the Sister missionaries instantly
were filled with pure and unconditional Christ-like love for this man with the
one and a half yellow teeth and a big gun. Bishop Caussé explained, “Instant
love is a gift given to Disciples of Christ.”~PLH

Why did I say yes…

As I sat in the Devotional, listening to Bishop and
Sister Causse, I was struck twice by statements that they made. The first had
to do with the phone call that the Causses received from Salt Lake City
extending the call to serve in the Church and Kingdom of God, to leave all else
behind and follow the course of life that the Savior pointed out to them. For a
moment I was a little envious. What would it be like to be called as a Seventy
until I was seventy? I said to myself, “Well
it’s a little late for that, now that you are seventy-one.” Being somewhat
whimsically minded, I still pursued the thought. “What would it have been like?”
Then the answer came: “You already know.”

More than forty-five years ago, I received a phone
call from Weldon Thacker, one of the administrators of the Church Educational
System, asking me if I would accept a position with the Department of
Seminaries and Institutes. I had waited a long time for the phone call and I
had almost despaired that it would ever come. In my impatience I had made
substantial plans to pursue my Master Degree in English Language and
Linguistics at Brigham Young University, even accepting a Teaching Assistant
assignment with the English Department. The call to serve as a Seminary teacher
came pretty late in the game. I had almost resolved to not allow such an
assignment to disrupt what I spent a considerable amount of time setting up.
“Why did I say ‘Yes’ when I wanted to say ‘No’?”, I ask, just as Sister Causse
had asked, when it was her turn to address the missionaries.

For the next thirty-five years I had the joyous
experience of associating with the youth of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, teaching principles that were near and dear to my heart.
Every day, I was immersed in the scriptures, learning and growing, that I might
be able to present properly the truths of eternity to the sons and daughters of
God. Could I have possibly received a more magnificent assignment in time or in
eternity than that? I was twenty-seven years old when I began my career; I was
sixty-two when I retired. When Bishop Causse is released from his role as a
General Authority, he will have served full-time in the Church for twenty-six
years. I have no need to be covetous.

Why did I say “Yes” to Brother Thacker on that late
winter day in 1969? For the same reason that the Causses said “Yes” to
President Monson. It was the right thing to do. The Spirit of God entered into
our hearts and spoke peace to us. He encouraged Elder and Sister Causse to
press forward in faith. In my case, he softened and purified my almost
embittered soul.

I retired from full-time employment with the Church
Educational System in 2004. I have rejoiced in the freedom, in being able to
leave the house at any time and go anywhere that my wife and I have desired to
go. Admittedly, I have missed the classroom and from time to time I have
thought about teaching on the side, at the University or at one of the
Institutes of Religion in Utah Valley. At those moments there has been a little
part of me that has said, “Why in the
world would you want to do that? Why would you want to tie yourself down again,
now that you are free?” So I continued to enjoy my freedom.

When the call came from the Provo MTC, we willingly
went to the interview. The assignment involved several hours on Tuesday,
Thursday, Saturday, and almost the entire day on Sunday. This would be every
week, fifty two weeks a year, for four years, with a few exceptions. Someone
asked me after we had accepted the call, “What is it like to be at the MTC?” I
replied, “It’s rather like coming out of
retirement, and on the same day being called as a Bishop.” Why did I say
“Yes” when I wanted to say “No”? Because it was the right thing to do, because
once again the Lord softened my stony, selfish little heart. ~PNH